While using inquiry in the classroom it is much more difficult then you think. What I have done is a whale activity. I had the students create a heat loss experiment to answer the question, Why Don’t Whales Have LEGS? I gave the students the materials of 2 cups, 1 zip lock sandwich bag, 1 rubber glove, 1 bin, 2 thermometers, and hot and cold water. The students worked in groups and had to create everything themselves. The created a procedure and data table. They preformed the experiment then wrote a lab report on this. The hardest part is not helping the students. I my eyes I am their to guide them in the right direction, but while using classroom inquiry you can’t. The students get mad and frustrated at you and you have to hold your ground. After the experiment, in their lab reports they told me if their hypothesis were correct and if their data proved this. If their experiment didn’t work they explain what changes they would make for them to get the results that they were looking for. After the experiments we discussed the problem in class to give the students more feedback/understanding of this.
After the fact I believe that inquiry is great. The students learned so much and they held onto the information. I will use more inquiry in my classroom. If I can get results like this every time then the more inquiry the better. During the beginning of my teaching career is to remember to put the work load on the students. Have them teach themselves as much as possible. Have yourself be there more as a resource then the main focus. I am still having a problem with this but I have done this and it does work extremely well. By doing this then when the students have to do an inquiry activity then I believe that they wont get as frustrated because you trained them to work in this manner.
After the fact I believe that inquiry is great. The students learned so much and they held onto the information. I will use more inquiry in my classroom. If I can get results like this every time then the more inquiry the better. During the beginning of my teaching career is to remember to put the work load on the students. Have them teach themselves as much as possible. Have yourself be there more as a resource then the main focus. I am still having a problem with this but I have done this and it does work extremely well. By doing this then when the students have to do an inquiry activity then I believe that they wont get as frustrated because you trained them to work in this manner.